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Baldur's Gate fans, new and old, will remember where they were when they first heard that dark horse Larian Studios would not be developing the next game. How could any dev walk away from an achievement like Baldur's Gate 3, a masterpiece which teased a vanishingly rare «10» out of this stingy scribe, one of only two ever given? Sadly, this is the reality in which we live, and IP-holder Wizards of the Coast has already moved on, actively courting other developers, with RPG studios lining up to throw their hats in the ring.

[Ed. note: This post goes into detail about Challengers, the arc of Zendaya’s character, and the movie’s sex scenes. Spoilers ahead.]

Ubisoft and Microsoft appear to be tag-teaming a legal crackdown on people who try to pass off fake versions of Minecraft and Assassin's Creed official merchandise as the real thing.

Finding the best Ash Wood farming locations in is not too difficult, but if you start your search from a randomized point in the currently available Teyvat map, there will certainly be trouble along the way. Ash Wood is but one of the over 20 types of wood that you can grab from trees all across the map. Compared to some other types of wood, such as Cypress Wood, which has over 2,000 nodes across the game, Ash Wood is a lot more limited.

Lawyers and parents are taking on the video game industry. There are eight lawsuits currently active in North America that seek to address video game addiction. All have been filed within the past two years, and most argue that the targeted video game companies, including Activision Blizzard, Epic Games, Microsoft, Roblox, Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive Software, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, make their games purposefully addictive as a way to keep people playing, and, ultimately, to get them to spend lots of money.

2024 has been a cracking year for tennis fans so far. Reebok brought back its classic Court Victory Pump sneakers, Zendaya got stuck into a saucy bit of mixed doubles on the big screen in Challengers, and now one of the greatest tennis videogame series’ has returned after a 13-year-long hiatus. TopSpin 2K25 delivers an on-court experience that’s every bit as smooth and snappy as it was two console generations ago, and it features licensed superstars and stadiums that now more closely resemble the real thing. It’s a shame, then, that some convoluted career progression systems and the inclusion of virtual currency hold TopSpin 2K25 back from being an outright winner.

It’s been 13 years since PlayStation fans last got their hands on a digital racquet in the TopSpin series. In that time, we’ve jumped two console generations, and the industry has seen a massive shift towards the live service model. Put together, what does that mean for the series’ return in TopSpin 2K25? Good things, apparently, as Hangar 13 has cooked up a fun, flashy, and addictive tennis title that you’ll enjoy coming to grips with and love mastering.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

After a thirteen year hiatus, the TopSpin series is back with TopSpin 2K25, and with the weighty moment-to-moment gameplay still at its core, it’s a tennis game revival that doesn’t disappoint.

We've datamined numerous cosmetic armor sets from the War Within alpha that resemble civilians from a fantasy town would wear in their daily life. From merchants to scholars, there's a set for all walks of life. While we don't know how to acquire these sets quite yet, one of the «merchant» sets is fittingly available from completing a dungeon meta achievement. Check out all the different armor tints below, or preview them in our TWW Dressing Room by clicking on the links above each image.

On April 15, Discord’s new Terms of Service changes went into effect, and there’s one major addition: an arbitration clause. What does it mean for users? It’s an important change easily lost in the fine print for anyone on Discord — and those in the know have a chance to opt out of the new agreement before May 15.

The 2018 medieval action RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance is getting a follow-up this year that promises to be twice the size of the original game, hinting at a bigger map, more features, and a greater number of quests. While the original courted controversy over depicting a recreation of 15th Century Bohemia devoid of people of color due to 'historical accuracy,' Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's grander scope means "a wide range of ethnicities."

TopSpin 2K25 is about to be served up on PS5, and after playing the game at a hands-on preview, it’s quietly become one of our most anticipated releases of the year. From top tennis talent to this long-dormant franchise getting the 2K treatment, there’s plenty of reason for us to be excited — but what about those behind every swing, serve and set? We managed to speak with Game Director Remi Ercolani to learn about tech advances, post-launch support, and why now is the perfect time for the series to return.

With Alpha upon us, we got an early preview of the new 10v10 Battleground, Deephaul Ravine, coming in the The War Within.

Take-Two Interactive Software is in an Ohio court this week to fight a lawsuit over the use of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James’ tattoos in its games. Tattoo artist Jimmy Hayden first sued Take-Two in 2017 over the use of several tattoos he made for James that were reproduced in NBA 2K games from 2016 to 2020.

Nearly two years after the rumor shared by Jason Schreier, developer Hangar 13 (Mafia III, Mafia Definitive Edition) is almost ready to release Top Spin 2K25, the first new entry in the beloved tennis franchise since 2011's Top Spin 4.

Nintendo's war against emulators seems far from over, as the Discord servers of two Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator forks were recently removed following a court-ordered injunction.

Discord has shut down the servers for two major Nintendo Switch emulators.

X Corp, formerly Twitter, has been "forced by court decisions" to block certain popular accounts in Brazil and is prohibited from giving details of the order, the company said on Saturday.

Yuji Naka, formally of Sonic Team and Square Enix, has accused a Dragon Quest lead of lying about him in court. Breaking his social media silence for the first time since his arrest, Naka says that Dragon Quest producer Yu Miyake lied about him during the criminal proceedings, and implies that he is not a "good" person.

A recent patent infringement case has resulted in a ban on the sale of Apple's latest Apple Watch models, the Series 9 and Ultra 2. The dispute revolves around the alleged infringement of patents related to pulse oximetry technology, which measures blood oxygen levels.

 In a groundbreaking collaboration, former Apple design guru Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are spearheading efforts to birth the "iPhone of AI." Reports suggest that the duo is on the hunt for a staggering $1 billion in funding, marking a pivotal step in their quest to redefine personal technology.

Back in 2020, filmmaking partners Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss released Boys State, a startling, compulsively watchable documentary that packs all of America’s political flaws into one competitive event. Embedding themselves in the 2018 Texas edition of Boys State, an annual leadership event where a thousand teenage boys are brought together to form a mock U.S. government, McBaine and Moss tracked a handful of participants as they vied for public office, learned terrible lessons about American politics, and alternated between acting like jaded statesmen and acting like teenage boys. One of the most obvious questions coming out of that documentary was: What does the girls’ version of this same event look like?

The Witcher season 4 has added three new cast members to the line-up – and they're playing some key characters. 

In recent years, there have been instances when governments around the world have asked Apple to aid in their investigations by unlocking the accused's iPhone, with some of them even approaching the court in a bid to convince Apple to follow their instructions. The company also revealed that it had indeed cooperated with governments in about 70 such past instances. However, in recent times, Apple has simply denied the requests, suggesting the importance it gives to privacy.

With Noblegarden going live, the Venthyr Ember Court covenant feature once again has an egg hunt event for 300% increased friendship with your guests! The event starts at 10am pacific time for NA players.

This author has long championed TopSpin 4’s realistic take on tennis, and while it’s taken over ten years to get a sequel, we’re ecstatic to see TopSpin 2K25 building on the foundations of its famous predecessor. This gameplay video recaps many of the features we mentioned in our recent preview, but it sprinkles in some footage to add context.

In an interesting turn of events, Apple has filed a lawsuit alleging a leak of classified information about projects including the recently launched Journal app. This development comes just days after the iPhone maker got hit with a lawsuit by the US Department of Justice for allegedly creating a walled garden with its devices and ecosystem. This time, Apple has alleged that Andrew Aude, a former iOS software developer, leaked details about its classified projects. Consequently, Apple seeks damages of over $25000 in addition to a jury trial.

Sony has won a court battle instigated by Genuine Enabling Technology (GET) that accused the PlayStation maker of infringing on one of its controller technology patents. At the time of filing, the most recent Sony console would have been the PlayStation 4.

Sony has successfully won a patent infringement lawsuit in which it was being sued for $500m, after a US District Court judge ruled in the PlayStation company's favour.

Dragon's Dogma 2 features many quests, but not all can be completed by simply going from one point to another. Some of them have some requirements that must be met to be completed.

Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., X Corp. and Match Group Inc. asked a federal judge to reject Apple Inc.'s plan for opening its App Store to outside payment options.

In Patch 10.2.6, Blizzard has added Glyphs to allow you to customize former Covenant abilities, allowing them to return to their original look! These glyphs can be purchased from Covenant quartermasters for each and will require Honored with the equivalent faction. Patch 10.2.6 Patch Notes

In the wake of Yuzu's $2.4 million settlement with Nintendo, the Mario maker has redoubled its work to fight Switch emulation, but these efforts don't involve any argument that emulation itself is illegal. Instead, Nintendo is relying on an extremely specific part of a decades-old copyright law to kill a load of software that can be used to pirate Switch games.

A new Xbox devkit was rated in South Korea yesterday by the National Radio Research Agency. It's unclear what this console is, but there are a couple of possibilities, such as the leaked all-digital Xbox Series X and separate handheld.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Today, during the 2024 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Hangar 13 and 2K announced the release date of Top Spin 2K25. The first installment in the tennis simulation game series since 2011's Top Spin 4 will launch on April 26 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X with full cross-play. Pre-orders are also open with four editions available for purchase:

OpenAI lambasted Elon Musk's allegations against it, saying in a court filing that the billionaire entrepreneur's claims “rest on convoluted — often incoherent — factual premises.” 

Nvidia has found itself on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit alleging copyright infringement by its artificial intelligence platform NeMo. The litigation poses an obstacle to Nvidia fully realizing its AI ambitions that have propelled its stock to unprecedented heights.

Ask someone to name the most iconic video game music of all time, and they’ll probably say it’s the Halo theme. It’s instantly recognisable, strangely beautiful, and 100% nostalgic. However, the mastermind behind the tune no longer works for Bungie, so what’s going on there?

A new court filing says that the developers behind the popular Switch emulator Yuzu have agreed to pay a $2.4 million settlement to Nintendo, and the not-yet-official final judgment suggests that the software itself is not long for this world.

“Denial is a river that flows through Cupertino!,” said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, a notorious Apple critic who also sued the tech giant for anticompetitive practices, in a post on X, weighing in on today’s news of the European Commission’s historic €1.84 billion fine against the iPhone maker. The EC ruling, which favors Spotify, hinges on Apple’s approach to its anti-steering clauses that prevented Spotify and other music streamers from directing users to their websites.

In a recent development, Google India has taken action against 10 Indian mobile applications, including popular ones like Bharat Matrimony, Info Edge's 99acres, and Naukri.com, by removing them from the Google Play Store. The move comes as a result of a dispute over service fee payments imposed by Google on in-app transactions - these companies were not paying what the Play Store wanted.

Industry body IAMAI on Friday "advised" Google not to delist any apps from Google Play, after the tech titan sent out a clear warning that it will remove apps not complying with Play store billing policies.

Here are the easiest Trading Post tasks to complete the Traveler's log for March 2024 to earn the Teele pet and your Trader's Tender! Trading Post OverviewMarch 2024 RewardsMarch 2024 Traveler's Log Activities

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman over what he says is a betrayal of the ChatGPT maker's founding aims of benefiting humanity rather than pursuing profits.

Call it an epic troll by Elon Musk if you want, but the billionaire's lawsuit against OpenAI puts a refreshing spotlight on the endless humanitarian posturing by AI businesses.

Survival is key in Fortnite, and it all starts by picking the best starting location. Even if you’re an expert player, your likelihood of coming out on top is greatly diminished if you start off on the wrong foot — whether it be at a barren location with no loot or a hot drop that could lead to a swift death.

Canada's Competition Bureau secured a court order allowing it to deepen a long-running investigation into the advertising market power of Alphabet Inc.'s Google.

If you’re into esports then you’ll no doubt have heard of Lee Sang-Hyeok, better known as Faker. He’s known for playing the ever popular League of Legends, and has been hailed as the best player in the world — he is to League what Michael Jordan is to basketball.

Yuzu, the original Nintendo Switch emulator created by the developers of Citra (an emulator for Nintendo 3DS), has been hit by a Nintendo lawsuit.

Tropical Haze LLC, the company behind the Nintendo Switch emulator known as Yuzu, has been sued by Nintendo in US federal court. The Japanese tech giant claims that the emulator violates the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). 

OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss parts of the New York Times' copyright lawsuit against it, arguing that the newspaper "hacked" its chatbot ChatGPT and other artificial-intelligence systems to generate misleading evidence for the case.

Nintendo is suing the makers of Yuzu, an open-source Nintendo Switch emulator, according to a lawsuit filed in Rhode Island court on Monday. Game File reporter Stephen Totilo first reported the suit.

An opportunity went up in smoke for Apple when Microsoft pitched it to acquire its Bing search engine in 2018, according to court documents from Google’s antitrust lawsuit. However, the Cupertino giant passed on the chance to have its own search engine, reportedly believing that Bing was riddled with search quality issues. Microsoft has also attempted to persuade Apple to make its search engine default in the Safari web browser, but the company has been met with a similar response.

When Backerkit’s crowdfunding platform formally launched in mid-2023, the company quickly made strides in the tabletop space, primarily by courting disaffected Kickstarter users. Now co-founder and CEO Maxwell Salzberg tells Polygon that his company already has twice the number of tabletop campaigns committed to the platform in 2024 as it did for all of last year — which isn’t bad for what he calls a “bootstrapped” company. The goal for 2024? Keep the crowdfunding ball rolling while also managing its expansive pledge-management services.

Last year, an all-digital Xbox Series X leaked via FTC court documents, which many fans worried was another hint towards an all-digital future. It's a concerning precedent because the Xbox 360 digital storefront is shutting down in July, meaning that physical media is the only way to get games for the platform going forward. If something similar happened to an all-digital generation down the line, it'd be a huge blow to preservation.

Video game maker Activision Blizzard has been hit with a U.S. lawsuit claiming it restricts competition for organized gaming involving its flagship franchise “Call of Duty.”

Squishmallows owner Kelly Toys is taking Build-A-Bear to court in what may be the cutest legal battle ever. Both Kelly Toys and Build-A-Bear filed respective lawsuits on Monday after Build-A-Bear started selling its Skoosherz line of plushies this year. For Kelly Toys, the problem is that Skoosherz look too much like its Squishmallows. To that, Build-A-Bear responded: You can’t trademark cute animals!

Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he's kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

Over half of the consumers surveyed have experienced subscription traps, hidden charges and other dark patterns on purchasing apps or other software through their mobile application stores, online research firm LocalCircles said on Monday.

In case you missed it, Microsoft made an industry-shaking acquisition at the tail end of last year, buying up Activision Blizzard King for an eye-watering $69 billion. It took a long time to close, though, because of intense scrutiny from a handful of different sources — one of those being the USA's Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Now, in the wake of Microsoft cutting thousands of jobs, the FTC is back on the company's case, accusing it of contradicting statements made in court about how the business would operate post-acquisition.

Sarvam AI, an emerging AI startup that is dedicated to addressing India's unique requirements, has successfully raised $41 million in a Series A funding round. Led by Lightspeed, the investment round also saw participation from Peak XV Partners and Vinod Khosla's Khosla Ventures, marking a significant milestone as the largest early-stage fundraising endeavour for an Indian AI startup to date.

In fast-paced, multi-process work, it is quite challenging to keep track of repetitive tasks and manage workflow for various projects. Additionally, we are provided with multiple AI-based tools which also makes work confusing as users have to switch between various apps and websites to get their tasks done. To simplify work and improve your productivity, we have found a tool called Leap AI which enables teams to generate AI workflow and automate various business processes in one place. The standout feature of Leap AI is that it is compatible with leading AI models which enables users to streamline tasks ranging from text to image processing. Learn more about the Leap AI tool here.

The Apple Vision Pro has garnered attention for its advanced mixed reality capabilities, but its hefty price tag of $3499 has made it inaccessible to many consumers. Fortunately, there are more budget-friendly alternatives available. Check out the Apple Vision Pro alternative called XREAL Air 2 Pro.

Apple has been talking about the Apple Vision Pro headset for more than a year, and it has finally been made available to the public recently. The product has created a lot of hype in this niche market and it has started to gain immense popularity, something not seen since when the iPhone debuted. However, even though Vision Pro headset is an amazing new advanced mixed reality tech, it still lacks some features and functionalities, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his latest newsletter, he said that Apple Vision Pro would require as many as four generations of improvements to reach its full potential.

It's the time of the year when people start expecting major announcements for a new Windows operating system. While many were waiting for the announcement of Windows 12 or some kind of major AI features, Microsoft has announced it will introduce an OS upgrade in Windows 11 only. Quite disappointing, considering the excitement around artificial intelligence that Microsoft has created so far. The upcoming Windows update is coming with various new features from the taskbar to Copilot. The upcoming upgrade will focus on Microsoft's vision to improve AI features. Know what the Windows 11 24H2 version has in store for users.

A federal court in California is enforcing a subpoena for Elon Musk to testify before the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding potential violations of federal securities laws in connection with his purchase of Twitter. 

Apple plans to settle a lawsuit that accused chip startup Rivos of stealing its trade secrets related to computer-chip technology, according to a joint court filing on Friday in California federal court. The companies told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that they had "signed an agreement that potentially settles the case," and that the agreement allows Apple to examine Rivos' systems and recover any confidential information.

U.S. authorities on Friday said they had seized websites used to sell cybercriminals malware called "Warzone RAT" that could be used to steal data from victims' computers.

An upcoming game about taking planet-wrecking corporations to court hopes to go beyond its onscreen battles by raising money for real-life environmental aid. Behind All Rise is a team including both climate experts and top-notch games talent with credits spanning Horizon Forbidden West, Thirsty Suitors, League of Legends and Paradise Killer.

Today, the US Federal Trade Commission criticized Microsoft for its plans to lay off 1,900 employees in the wake of its Activision Blizzard acquisition. Now, Microsoft has issued a response, saying that these layoffs "cannot be attributed fully to the merger," especially because Activision Blizzard already planned on eliminating a lot of jobs before the deal went through.

Microsoft has defended claims made by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that its plans to lay off around 1,900 members of its gaming staff contradict “representations it made” during the fight to acquire Activision, and stated that Activision was already planning “significant” staff cuts.

Microsoft’s decision to lay off over 1,900 employees across Xbox and Activision Blizzard only three months after acquiring the latter has been cause for plenty of debate, and it seems U.S. government officials were definitely keeping an eye on the situation. While the Activision Blizzard acquisition has officially gone through, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has not given up their fight against it, filing appeals to block and reverse the deal as recently as this past December, and now they’ve filed a complaint about the recent Activision Blizzard layoffs. According to the FTC, the layoffs directly contradict statements that Microsoft made to them that Acti-Blizz would be operated independently at arm’s length, with no redundancies between the two companies.

The US Federal Trade Commission sure isn't happy about Microsoft's decision to lay off 1,900 staff from its games business.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a complaint against Microsoft to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit following the news of the company planning to lay off around 1,900 members of staff from across its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams.

Microsoft reneged on promises it made in court during its Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust trial in 2023 by laying off 1,900 employees in late January, according to the FTC. FTC lawyer Imad Abyad filed a letter with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday, effectively telling on Microsoft. “This newly-revealed information contradicts Microsoft’s representations in this proceeding,” the FTC lawyer wrote.

While a recent report shows a second year of declining tabletop revenues at Kickstarter, consumer appetite for crowdfunded tabletop games may actually be increasing. Data shared with Polygon shows that Poland-based upstart Gamefound had a record year in 2023, with revenues from crowdfunding soaring by nearly 98% to $56 million last year. Taken alongside Kickstarter’s own haul of a reported $226.2 million, that could make 2023 the biggest year ever for tabletop crowdfunding.

Microsoft Corp.'s plans to cut 1,900 jobs from its video game division contradict statements the company made to a US  court that it would operate the newly acquired Activision Blizzard Inc. independently, the US Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday.